Leatherman Vista Review

Hi everybody! I may be a new guy but I've been around various forums for years, so what better way to intro myself than my first review?

Overall thoughts; Gee whiz is this thing B I G!!!! Here it is next to my ol' Buck tool

I bought this after seeing it several "hunting stuff" catalogs. They made it sound like it would be perfect for cutting brush to hide your treestand or ground blind. But before you take anything into the woods, you might want to see if it works at home, soooooo off to the back yard for some waaaaaaaaay overdue yardwork. I have an elm tree that is trying to take over one corner, as well as some other plants that think they own my yard. I'll show them! (evil laugh) I tried out the pruner first. I call this pic "bitting off more than I could chew" Well, even a Leatherman has limits I guess.

Time to break out the saw! Ents lookout! (sorry LOR geek thing) Anyway, Inkster called me on the phone at this point, so I put him to work timing me and the tool doing various tasks. This branch; 1 min 48 seconds.

So far so good. After about 20 min my backyard looked like a windstorm had come through! My wife came out to see what I was doing, and if I had shed any of my own blood. (That happens alot when I do yard work) That and she wanted to trim the gnarly rose bush that guards the front window. She liked the tool alot, and gave it a "4 otta 5" Here she is "in action."

Good things; The pruner and saw worked very well. The camo condura sheath carried easy, and the tool came out and could be resheathed with ease. Despite its metal and plastic frame (as opposed to all metal) it had a solid feel to it, and just yelled "Work Me!" It felt good in my hands as well as my wife's.

Not so good; Non locking tools. In the catalogs they say that you can "start tree steps" with the big beefie looking awl. But since it dosn't lock, that is pretty hard to do with out it folding up on you. I got it to stick in tree, but thats about it. Makes for a good pic though... Also, It's pretty hard to get one tool out without getting everything out on that handle of the tool.

Final thoughts; Most of us wouldn't use this guy for an EDC, unless you work at greenhouse, or a tree farm. If you did then I could see it being a useful tool to have on you belt, as opposed to hunting around for a "real" pruner, or saw. As far as the hunting thing, I could see it having use there as well. Again, something to have on your belt, or pack, "just in case." Like any other of Mr Leathermans tool, this is one that you could always have on you, as opposed to walking back to the truck for a saw or axe, just cut some brush..

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